How about technology that detects when a vehicle is within the area defined by a virtual "ring" (town/city) and then adapts to reduce the maximum speed of the vehicle to 15mph. Kind of like an ISA system but works on an ANPR/RFID system?

The driver then wouldn't need to worry about speed limits, just controlling the vehicle at an appropriate speed within this busy environment. The system could be de-activated at certain times (example: night time when there's not many people about)

If you only ask folk to provide 15mph's worth of attention you only get 15mph's worth of attention - and actually that isn't much. So suddenly almost all of the impacts (which always did result from attention failures) will be at around 15mph.

And even 15mph is a deadly speed.

This really is one of the stupidest road safety ideas on the planet. We have an amazing road safety system based on the behaviour of human beings as skilled risk managers - and people like you wish to take their ability to manage risk away.

Apart from being a daft idea in the first place, this is highly impracticable anyway. Most towns have routes going through any such "ring" specifically designed for through traffic to pass through the area quickly. These go under, over and alongside roads designed for urban use. Technology is just not up to coping with this situation safely.

If you only ask folk to provide 15mph's worth of attention you only get 15mph's worth of attention - and actually that isn't much. So suddenly almost all of the impacts (which always did result from attention failures) will be at around 15mph.

And even 15mph is a deadly speed

This really is one of the stupidest road safety ideas on the planet. We have an amazing road safety system based on the behaviour of human beings as skilled risk managers - and people like you wish to take their ability to manage risk away.

I thought there were no "wrong" or "right" ideas in the context of Brainstorming, or maybe you're just "inciting hatred" by rebuking my idea formally?

Anyway, the limit really was arbitrary. I was using the Joksch curve to generate a dV of 10mph as p(fatal)~0.1 at this dV, making the assumption that VRU's are 200% more likely to be killed than a car occupant in a crash.

It may well be worse, I don't know the exact figures for VRUs (I used DfT 20% die at 20 as a rule of thumb to generate my 0.1 figure which probably isn't linear.)

Anyway, in reality this would give:

1) A stopping distance which is virtually instantaneous for a good vehicle in good conditions.

2) Consistent and expected driving behaviour.

3) More time for COAST, as people would not need to worry about "limits". If the road ahead is clear, then maximum speed can be applied. If not, then slow down as normal.

The only places where this would be introduced would be highly urbanised environments or residential areas. High pedestrian and hazard density.

Why is that such a bad idea? How exactly would it remove concentration from the road? How exactly would it be any worse than allowing someone to travel at 30 or 40mph in the same are (which generates a p(fatal) of somewhere in the region of 0.3-0.6% allowing for braking effects) which is unacceptably high risk for an environment containing so many hazards.

I do have to admit that I find myself using my speed limiter within the m42 but I control that and I have the discretion as to when to use it. A bit like the F1 drivers in the pit lane.

I'm very loath to take control, away from the driver in an urban area. You'll have more experience of auto pilot than me but I fear that the driver's brain would switch off rather than become more alert to the dangers.

I have more sympathy for the idea if it could be applied to congested non junction motorways when cars could be formed into a kind of high speed train........but this is star wars stuff.

First they get control of your car in what is termed dangerous territory.
Next it advances to 20 Zones.
Next 30 limitas and 40 limits.
Next week - the UK - LOOK AT THE PROBLEMS HGV blokes are having - overheard one traffic boss ( got a medium sized firm ) say - the problem is at 56mph they ALL SWITCH OFF.

And when you're following Aunty Flo at 45 in a 60 - don't forget that once in a time , you could accelerate to pass her in safety - now you've only got 15mph to play with - wait for the accident figures to go off the scale.

And in a car there ane now two computers .One is a basic model. The other is a very advanced one - capable of controling a space vehicle / supertanker/ jet fighter/programming a computer.

One is the vehicle CCU - one is man.

Which one do you think is better equiped to deal with the task ( Little hint the more advanced one sits in your head)

You are missing the point. The speed limit would be 10-15mph, hard limited. You don't need to worry about exceeding it. If the road is clear enough to do 15mph, then that's what you can do. If it isn't you slow down. You don't need to stare at the speedo, in fact you don't even need to look at it!

We are talking about communities of linked residential streets with double parked cars, kiddies playing, dogs, etc. One benefit of the system would be the elimination of the need for speed cameras and road humps.

The speed limit would be 10-15mph, hard limited. You don't need to worry about exceeding it.

I agree, you just nail your right foot to the floor and forget about driving.

In fact, we could take it a step further, take complete control of the vehicle's speed within these areas, if every vehicle is travelling at 5mph they can't crash into each other and pedestrians can sprint out of the way. We can window shop from the driving seat.

Trying to have a sensible debate on here is pointless. I suppose we should continue to let people do 30-40 in these places, as they must be right, they're drivers who can judge "appropriate speed for the conditions" perfectly.

Trying to have a sensible debate on here is pointless. I suppose we should continue to let people do 30-40 in these places, as they must be right, they're drivers who can judge "appropriate speed for the conditions" perfectly.

With 11,000 child pedestrians injured last year and 47 deaths in built up areas, clearly the vast majority of us are not striking them at the '20% die at 30mph' level - If we were it would have been well over 2,000 deaths.

But the proportion 47/11,000 = 0.42% is a massive overestimate of reality, because:

- Injuries are under-reported by around a factor of 3. (=30,000)
- Many accident don't result in an injury at all (another 20,000?)
- The vast majority of incidents result in no impact (another 200,000 perhaps)

Show me ONE SHREAD of evidence that a significant part of our road safety problems are caused by 'people driving far too fast' in urban areas.

For what it's worth I reckon that you'd either have to have a "full auto" system - control of speed, braking, steering, collision avoidance etc, or nothing, ie leave things as they are.

Your method leaves effective control of everything except maximum speed to the driver - who would still have to remain sufficiently alert to adjust his speed if necessary, brake and steer... Ok... Can you imagine the unspeakable boredom (not to mention the sheer amount of time involved) of trundling across the 35-or-so miles of Greater London, or the 30+ miles that comprises the West Midlands conurbation at 15 mph max? You'd have masses of accidents caused by the official main contributory factor - innatention.

_________________"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

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